THE ECONOMICS OF BIOSAFETY: IMPLICATIONS FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

There is a growing body of literature on the safe use of biotechnology and the need for an international biosafety protocol and national regulations to facilitate the safe development and transfer of biotechnology. Most of these studies, however, address the issue of biosafety from a scientific, legal, environmental and organizational perspective. The purpose of this paper is to add to this discussion by providing an economic perspective on regulating products of agricultural biotechnology, with special emphasis on implications for developing countries who are under increasing pressure to put a biosafety framework in place. The paper provides a brief discussion on the economic rationale for biosafety regulations, explains the economic benefits and costs of biosafety, and discusses the appropriate form of biosafety policy and the effects of regulation on resource allocation. The benefits of biosafety discussed include - the reduction of possible human and environmental risks of biotechnology products and "accident" costs to the society; increased predictability for a research organization of the expected time and money to get a new product on the market; making the products of biotechnology accessible to a country; and the provision of certainty and stability to the social framework, necessary for the development of biotechnology research and development activities. Developing countries should balance these potential benefits with the tangible costs of biosafety regulation to the biotechnology organizations and the society. To a biotechnology organization, biosafety will increase the research lag, production costs, transaction costs and marketing costs. Given the scarcity of human and physical resources, setting up a biosafety system also poses opportunity costs to the society. The following issues need careful examination in designing a biosafety policy in a developing country: the goal of biosafety policy; the appropriate means of controlling risk; the impact of biosafety on scientific development and private investments; the impact of biosafety on the international transfer of technology and international trade; the incidence of biosafety costs; and the size of biosafety system. Keywords: Biosafety, economic aspects, developing countries, agriculture, biotechnology, researchBiosafety, economic aspects, developing countries, agriculture, biotechnology, research, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Curriculum Enhancement and Reform to Meet the Needs of Smallholder Farmers in Developing Countries: Survey of Literature

The agricultural education system plays an important role in developing knowledge resources and preparing well-trained individuals and the next generation of labor force that becomes part of the public sector (government), the private sector (entrepreneurs, farm producers, agri-business entities) and the NGOs. An education system that is innovative and responsive to the complex and rapidly changing work environment is critical to ensure the effectiveness of all the institutions that contribute to agricultural development agenda. To make the education system responsive requires developing and implementing curriculum and teaching programs that are relevant to the production needs and employment demands of the agricultural sector. This paper reviews the literature on experiences gained in the development of innovative and demand-driven curriculum to make the postsecondary agricultural education system serve the needs of smallholder farmers in developing countries. The paper reviews the desired characteristics of the formal post-secondary educational system to be effective in fulfilling its role in supplying well-trained and productive work force for the agricultural economy. The current general state of agricultural curriculum in developing countries is reviewed with respect to these desired characteristics. The paper also presents a review of experiences gained in implementing different approaches to develop, enhance and reform agricultural curriculum, identifies constraints, challenges and successful examples of such approaches, and derives recommendations for ways forward.Tertiary education, Curriculum reform, Training, Capacity building, Agricultural development, Developing countries, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, O15:Human Resources-Human Development-Income Distribution-Migration, M53:Training, I23: Higher Education and Research Institutions, Q16:R&D-Agricultural Technology-Biofuels-Agricultural Extension Services,

Facilitating Seed Sector Transformation in Africa: Key Findings from the Literature

Crop Production/Industries, Downloads July 2008 - July 2009: 9,

Impacts of U.S. Graduate Degree Training on Capacity Building in Developing Countries: A Case Study of the Pulse CRSP

The Dry Grain Pulses Collaborative Research Support Program (Pulse CRSP) had allocated a major part of its resources to providing graduate degree training (GDT) of scientists/researchers in order to strengthen agricultural research capacity in Africa, Latin America, and the U.S. However, no systematic attempt had been made to assess the impact of this investment. The study adopted the Kirkpatrick framework as a guide for evaluating the impacts of GDT by the Pulse CRSP. The results were drawn from a survey of former trainees and researchers, supplemented by interviews with scientists and program administrators and an institutional case study. An important finding was that over 86% of host country trainees returned to their home country. In their enhanced capacity, trainees made contributions to the advancement of bean/cowpea research that can be attributed to their graduate degree training. Trainees reported that their GDT was necessary for their professional development and was highly relevant to their current job responsibility.Impact assessment, Pulse CRSP, USAID, Training, Graduate degree, Beans, Cowpeas, International Development, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, Q16-R&D-Agricultural technology-Biofuels-Agricultural Extension Services,

No Shortcuts to Progress: An Assessment of Agricultural Research Planning and Priority Setting in Africa

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Downloads July 2008-June 2009: 7,

Seed Sector Evolution in Zambia and Zimbabwe: Has Farmer Access Improved Following Economic Reforms?

Crop Production/Industries, Downloads July 2008-June 2009: 19,

Ex Post Evaluation of Economic Impacts of Agricultural Research Programs: a Tour of Good Practice

Revised version of a paper presented to the Workshop on "The Future of Impact Assessment in CGIAR: Needs, Constraints, and Options", Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) of the Technical Advisory Committee, Rome, May 3-6, 2000, FAO, Rome.This paper summarizes "state of the art" in ex post economic impact assessment of agricultural research with an emphasis on providing a practical guide that can be used by research managers and economists working within a research organization under tight time and resource constraints. Much of the early part of the paper is focused on conceptual and methodological issues. Later sections of the paper turn to implementation issues, especially the implementation of impact assessment as a routine activity. Throughout, the focus is on public research organizations in developing countries, both national and international, and only in one section do we focus on the emphasize the special issues in international research organizations. The underlying premise is that evaluation work in the CGIAR should increasingly be based on evaluation work undertaken in NARSs, with IARCs providing a facilitating and synthetic role

PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS IN PROMOTING HIGH EXTERNAL-INPUT TECHNOLOGIES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: THE SASAKAWA GLOBAL 2000 EXPERIENCE IN ETHIOPIA AND MOZAMBIQUE

Critics argue that high external input technologies are too costly for African farmers, and that pilot programs to promote them are economically unsustainable. This paper assesses Sasakawa-Global 2000 programs in Ethiopia and Mozambique; budgets, yield models and subsector analysis help explain the radically different country results and prognoses for sustainable adoption.technology adoption, sub-Saharan Africa, Sasakawa-Global 2000, maize, fertilizer, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O002, O003,

Can The Momentum be Sustained? An Economic Analysis of the Ministry of Agriculture/Sasakawa Global 2000's Experiment with Improved Cereals Technology in Ethiopia

A Joint Research Activity of: Grain Marketing Research Project/Michigan State University, Sasakawa Global 2000, Ministry of Agriculture Department of Extension and Cooperatives, Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organizationfood security, food policy, Ethiopia, SG2000, Crop Production/Industries, Q18,

Constraints and Strategies for the Development of the Seed System in Mozambique

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Directorate of Economics, Republic of Mozambiquefood security, food policy, Mozambique, seed system, Crop Production/Industries, Q18,